Now that fall is officially here with the fall equinox on September 22, this cat is looking forward to all the leaves changing color. I’ve noticed some of the first trees to change on my journeys around town. We will be carving pumpkins before we know it.

There was another reason to smile last week, when an anonymous visitor to C.H. Booth Library left a message in chalk on the sidewalk near 25 Main Street declaring their love for the library. The simple note made many people smile and while the rain washed it away, the memory is still a very good one.

Now that Monday’s golf tournament is in the books, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue members are getting ready for their next fundraiser. The 2022 Sandy Hook Fall Festival is planned for Saturday, October 22, from 11 am to 5 pm, at the fire company’s main station, 18-20 Riverside Road. Admission is $2 for adults, free for ages 12 and under, and costumes are definitely encouraged. There are at least five food trucks scheduled, a beer and wine garden, yard games, craft vendors, and more. Costumes will be judged at 3 o’clock, and the company is planning prizes for the two best adult and two best children’s costumes. Firefighters will also be drawing the winning tickets at 4 pm for another new offering: a meat raffle, with three big prizes. Tickets are $20 and will be sold until 3:55 or while the supply of 2,000 available tickets remains. Visit The Newtown Bee office or the firehouse website (sandyhookfire.com) to purchase tickets sooner. Because this will be a very crowd-heavy (they hope), food-centric event, organizers remind pet owners that service animals are the only creatures that should be showing up that day. The festival will be rain or shine, with plenty of nearby parking available.

This weekend, the fire company’s Ladies Auxiliary is hosting one of its annual fundraisers. Members of the Sandy Hook VFR auxiliary will be at the pavilion behind the Riverside Road firehouse on Saturday morning from 9 am until noon, conducting their Autumn Paper Shredding Event. Cost is $10 per file box or paper shopping bag, increasing in $5 increments according to container. Documents will be securely shredded on site. The auxiliary will also be accepting donations of clothing, shoes, socks, linens, and even stuffed animals, all to be delivered to Helpsy. The clothing recycling organization will compensate the group for each pound of clothing, etc, donated. If you can’t get to the firehouse on October 1, the Helpsy collection continues to the end of the month. Donations can be dropped at the Helpsy Donation Center, 129 South Main Street, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10 am and 5 pm. (Remember that items cannot be left outside the building when it is not open.) Be sure to let the attendant know that the donations are for the auxiliary.

Gordon Williams checked in last week. After sending a very kind letter to the editor (see last week’s paper and online Letter Hive, where his suggestion to continue Scudder Smith’s legacy can be found), Gordon followed that communication with a call in to suggest a Good Egg nominee. “I read the recent story about Donna Ball and all of the work she did for Scudder and [Scudder’s wife] Helen at The Pleasance, and it reminded me about something else Donna has done that should be recognized,” Gordon shared. Donna spent a lot of time cleaning out the basement of The Matthew Curtiss House, according to Gordon. The headquarters for Newtown Historical Society, the historic building at 44 Main Street probably has at least a few dozen cobwebs that were ready to be cleaned out. Gordon, a longtime member of the society, was grateful on behalf of the society for the help. Donna has also been a regular presenter during the historical society’s History Camp, Gordon reminded us. She and her son Miles have visited the summer camp for many years to present and discuss old-fashioned firefighting tactics. “She’s just a good person, with a big heart that she shared with so many others,” Gordon said. With that glowing recommendation, we are proud to offer a Good Egg Award to Newtown resident Donna Ball. Congratulations Donna, you are a good egg!

Regular readers of this newspaper know that Newtown is the proud home to a very active workcamp program. Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants (NEWS) has been organizing week-long mission trips for young adults and chaperones for years, and next year will be no different. Having successfully (and finally) made it to Puerto Rico in late June and early July, NEWS is already looking forward to 2023. Students entering eighth grade through their senior year of high school who would like to learn about the group and its opportunities are invited to an information session planned for Tuesday, October 4, beginning at 7 pm at Newtown Congregational Church. Regular attendance at or even membership of a local faith community is not required to participate. Interested? All the details for next year’s planned trip, including each camper’s responsibilities, will be explained next week, without commitment. Reservations are not needed but if you’d like some information before then contact NEWS board member and chaperone Laura Roche at LRoche41@gmail.com.

You can help EverWonder Children’s Museum choose its new animal exhibit. To my shock, it will not be a cat exhibit. But residents can vote on it being either a chinchilla or axolotl exhibit. (For those who do not know, chinchillas are a rodent native to the Andes Mountains in South America, and axolotls are an amphibian native to Lake Xochimilco in Southern Mexico City. Voting ends on October 7 and can be done online at simpletix.com/e/vote-for-our-next-live-animal-exhibit-tick-tickets-115290?fbclid=IwAR3SLMXie0W2Go7W-GF4mbrnvxu0EzGVQUoRpY4f-G4icrPHhm5cXlMP-xE.

Have you heard the buzz coming from Paproski’s Corn Maze at Castle Hill Farm? I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say this year’s design is as sweet as honey. I’d share more, but, you will have to find out for yourselves. Days and times the maze is open are available on the farm’s website castlehillfarm.net/corn-maze.

This week’s Way We Were column features a postcard image of the home of A.F. Clarke, a business man who co-owned the red brick general store for part of that historic building’s run as a general store. In sharing some of his research notes, local historian Walker Russell mentioned one of the challenges of archaeologists: spelling errors, particularly with surnames. Fortunately Walker is tenacious in his reading, and was able to cross-reference multiple sources in his quest to confirm that the home pictured on the postcard this week — which references “Residence A.F. Clarke Newtown CT” — is in fact the same person referenced in a Bridgeport Farmer story about “Abel F. Clark” being exhumed from his original burial site at Village Cemetery and placed in a mausoleum beside Clarke’s first wife. The mausoleum was built after Clarke’s first wife, Florence S. Glover, died at an early age. The spelling on the mausoleum — which was completed well before the death of A.F. — is Clarke, “so that must be the proper spelling,” Walker shared. We have to agree with that logic. Through further research, Walker determined that “Abe” Clarke inherited a large amount of money, which allowed him to do a lot of impressive traveling — chronicled in The Newtown Bee reports — and then left “considerable amounts of money,” Walker said, after his death to The John Beach Memorial Library, Sandy Hook Library, Newtown Village Cemetery, and Monroe Cemetery. (Although he lived most of his life in Newtown, and even divided his time later in life between Newtown and Brooklyn, N.Y. — home of his second wife — Clarke was born in Monroe.) We credit genealogists who all take the time to cross-check themselves while finding enjoyment going through old records.

I learned this week that The Exceptional Sidekick Service Dogs and Therapy Dogs is looking for a puppy raiser. Are you suited to be a puppy raiser? An announcement on the group’s Facebook page reads, “Our ideal puppy raiser is active, has a loving and healthy home, no other dogs in the house or only dogs that are over two years of age and well behaved, and willing to come to training on a weekly basis. If you are interested in learning more, visit exceptionalsidekick.org/help/puppy-raise/ and submit your application.” I’m pretty sure, as a cat, I should not apply. But I also know there are many in town who could ...

Who has four paws and is willing to search all over Newtown for news? This cat. So I hope next week you will ... Read me again.